By Chito Chavez
The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) has assured the families of the persons deprived of liberty (PDL) in the Taal Volcano eruption-affected jail facilities under its care are safe.
Taal Volcano(ALI VICOY/ MANILA BULLETIN)
BJMP spokesman Chief Inspector Xavier Solda said the bureau undertook preemptive evacuation from midnight last Sunday, January 12, until the next day where 54 PDLs from the Lemery Municipal Jail were brought to the Batangas City Jail to ensure their safety.
At present, Solda said the BJMP continues to implement a “red alert status’’ in all its jail facilities in Southern Tagalog.
He noted that the deployment of jail officers has also continued to assist other groups in the government’s clearing operation and distribution of relief goods.
To recall, the BJMP immediately extended its assistance to the Taal Volcano affected areas where relief goods distribution, psychosocial support like games and book reading activities for the children, feeding programs, cleaning operation and medical support at the evacuation centers were provided.
Solda said even the PDLs joined the assistance efforts, citing that some of them for making face masks at a BJMP-run facility in Quezon province which were distributed to the victims.
On Friday, BJMP chief Jail Director Allan Iral visited the Lipa City Jail to provide aid to the BJMP personnel and to a nearby barangay affected by the volcanic eruption.
“Tuloy tuloy ang pagtulong ng BJMP sa mga nasalanta nating kababayan kasama ang iba pang ahensiya ng pamahalaan. Nauunawaan natin kung gaano kahirap ang sitwasyon ng nila ngayon kaya karamay nila kami and we are praying na sana makabangon sila kaagad (The BJMP will continue to provide aid with the government other agencies to the victims of the eruption. We understand their unfavorable predicament that is why we are giving all the help we can give and praying that they could recover from this debacle),’’ ral said.
Iral added that the BJMP Multi-Purpose Cooperative and the BJMP Chapter of the Philippine National Police Academy Alumni Association (PNPAAA) have also rendered voluntarily assistance to the victims of the disaster.